The Images of Chinese in Western Films before 1950s
July 19th, 2013 A brief history of Movie in China
• The first film in the world was made in 1895. • ‘Moving pictures’ appeared in Shanghai, in August 1896. • Yiliujiang(伊留 继 昂 ) Cinema, in Harbin, in 1905 • Mount Dingjun, first film, made by Chinese, in 1905. • Asia Picture Corporation, Benjamin Brasky, in Shanghai, 1909 Mount Dingjun(定 军 山 ), 1905 Xinpei Tan(谭 鑫培 ) Li Hung Chang (李 鸿 章 ) and the 24th President of the US, Stephen Grover Cleveland, on August 29, 1896 William Kennedy Dickson,
1. Li Hung Chang - Fourth Avenue and Broadway;
2. Li Hung Chang - Fifth Ave and 55th Street.
Chinese Laundry Scene, 1895 I. Before World War II
• Start to define the image of Chinese on the screen. • The Chinese Exclusion Act (1882-1943), prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers. • State laws were prohibiting Chinese from marrying white people, until 1948. • Yellow Peril: the fear that the mass immigration of Asians threatened white wages and standards of living and that they would eventually take over and destroy western civilization, ways of life and values. Broken Blossoms (1919)
Cheng Huan (Richard Barthelmess)
Dr. Fu Manchu (1923-1980)
Warner Oland
The Mysterious Dr. Fu Manchu (1929) Anna May Wong (黄柳霜)
Daughter of the Dragon (1931) Christopher Lee
The Face of Fu Manchu (1965) Saruman (the Lord of the Rings) Count Dooku (Star Wars Episode II & III) The Castle of Fu Manchu (1969) Father is a British nobility Mother is a Chinese
Doctorates from four Western universities
Speaks Chinese, English, French, Arabic, Hindi …
No guns, or explosive, prefer peculiar animals or chemical weapons.
Fu Manchu Moustache!!! Chow Yun-fat (周 润发 )
Pirates of the Caribbean Charlie Chan (1926-1981)
Warner Oland
Charlie Chan in Shanghai (1935) Sidney Toler
Shadows Over Chinatown (1946) Honolulu Dective
Fat but swift
Honolulu, London, Paris, Egypt, Shanghai, Hindenburg, New York City, Monte Carlo, San Francisco, Rio, Panama…
intelligent, benevolent and honorable
incapacity to speak fluent English, overly tradition- bound, subservient Anna May Wong (黄柳霜), 1905-1961
• Third-generation Chinese-American, born in Chinatown of Los Angeles.
• First Chinese American movie star, and has an international recognition.
• Hollywood Walk of Fame, in 1960
The Thief of Bagdad (1924) • Kiss-Free
• Stereotypes o naive and self-sacrificing "Bu erfly” o sly and deceitful "Dragon Lady”
"I was so tired of the parts I had to play.”
"There seems li le for me in Hollywood, because, rather than real Chinese, producers prefer Hungarians, Mexicans, American Indians for Chinese roles.”
Chinese Costume Party II. WWII-Mao
• China was an ally of USA.
• Documentaries about the Second Sino-Japanese War
• Dr. Fu Manchu disappeared for 25 years. Why We Fight (1942-1945): a series of seven documentary films commissioned by the United States government during World War II whose purpose was to show American soldiers the reason for U.S. involvement in the war.
VI: The Ba le of China
Pearl Sydenstricker Buck (1892-1973)
Lived in China for nearly 40 years
Awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1938 The Good Earth (1937) Thank you!